Here in the United States, Zaw Htut is just another college student. In Burma, he is, according to the government there, a political dissenter who should be jailed.

But Htut, luckily, is at NIU, working toward a master’s degree in management information systems.

“I had to flee,” he said. “One day they would come to me and arrest me.”

In 1988, the Burmese Army took control of the southeast Asian nation in a military coup. At that time in his hometown of Monywa, Burma, Htut was part of a student movement against the government. Fearing arrest, Htut escaped the country in 1991.

He fled to India and then to the United States in 2001. He received a bachelor’s degree in informatics and computer science from Indiana University. Along the way, Htut heard that NIU offered Burmese courses and had a Center for Burma Studies. He decided to do his graduate work here. His tuition is paid through the Burmese Refugee Scholarship Program.

Htut, 34, is part of a vibrant Burmese culture at NIU. Earlier this month, Burmese culture was celebrated and experienced by NIU students as a part of the festivities for Asian-American Heritage Month. The International Burma Studies Conference is held in DeKalb every four years. NIU is also one of only two U.S. universities to teach Burmese – and the only one to do so full time. NIU even has a population of about 10 Burmese students.

In 1986, the Burma Studies Group of the Association of Asian Studies selected NIU to build and develop the U.S. Center for Burma Studies. It is the only such center in the world.
It has a collection of approximately 12,000 Burmese artifacts, maps, books and other documents. The center has major art exhibits every other year and has permanent displays in the Art Building and the fourth floor of Founders Memorial Library.

“It’s mainly a resource center for the sake of scholars and students,” said director Catherine Raymond, who periodically takes graduate students to Burma and has traveled there for over two decades. “It’s always very good to recognize the roots. This is part of how you build a broad nation.”

Htut doesn’t know if and when he’ll return to Burma, which was renamed Myanmar by the military junta in 1989, even though his family is still there. If there is a change in government, maybe. But as the country is in terrible shape – economically, the people are oppressed, education is frowned upon – he just wants to see its situation improve, whatever that may mean for him.

“It will take time,” he said. “I’m sure there will be a change. It can’t stay like that forever. There must be a change sooner or later.”

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